The Only Test Hermione Granger Ever Failed
by Slygrifflepuffclaw
Summary: Hermione gets a mysterious letter from Gingotts. Secrets are revealed and Hermione has to come to terms with everything being thrown at her... PLEASE Read and Review. Positive or negative I want to hear it all
1. Prolouge - A letter came today

_**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER OR ANY CANNON CHARACTERS, I CAN ONLY CLAIM THE PLOT AND ANY ORIGINAL CHARACTERS PRESENT**_

_**The only test Hermione Granger ever failed.**_

_**Prologue: A letter came today.**_

It was a very sunny day and as per usual. I was on my annual holiday with my parents to our villa in the south of France. I was nearly in my fifth year at Hogwarts, nearly ready to see Harry and Ron again I just a few short days I was to be collected. I didn't know where I was going to be going but I assumed it was somewhere safe, given Voldemort's return just a month and a half ago; which Minister Fudge was still denying at every turn and making Harry out to be some sort of attention seeking brat, or a nutcase.

I was out lounging by the pool, reading, when a large grey owl swooped down and landed beside me. I frowned; I never got any owl post here. None of my friends ever sent my post here; it was always left at my house in England. I did get my Hogwarts letter here once but it was way too early for those. "Hello, what have you got for me there?" I asked as the owl put out its leg so I could untie the letter. It was heavy. As the owl flew away I opened the letter and a large gold medallion with a large 'G' on it fell out onto my lap.

_Dear Ms Granger,_

_We at Gringotts are sorry to inform you that we have a matter of great urgency to discuss with you. You are requested to appear at Gringotts at one pm tomorrow July 15__th__. You're parents are also invited but are not required to be in attendance. Just hold the Gringotts amulet accompanying this letter and no later than ten minutes before your appointment and say 'Aurum' the portkey will transport you to Gringotts London._

_May your gold forever flow and you enemies' heads fall at your feet,_

_Ragnok_

_Account manager_

_Gringotts Wizarding Bank_

I was slightly confused. All I had in Gringotts was a small savings vault and a trust vault set up for me by my parents when I started at Hogwarts, with the help of Professor McGonagall. I went inside to see if Mum and Dad knew anything about it, they were inside eating lunch at the kitchen table

"Dad do you know anything about this?" I asked handing him the letter. I sat down opposite him and stated eating my warm chicken salad. He and Mum read the letter through twice and were still stumped about what it could be.

"So do you guys want to come with me?" I asked. They exchanged an uneasy glance; as if they knew something I didn't, but didn't want to tell what it was. "Of course we will dear" Mum said with a soft smile. "I'll have to talk to your father about it, however you know he's not too fond of magical travel."

The rest of the day was spent trying to figure out what Gringotts would want with me. I stayed up most of the night thinking about it. Breakfast was tense the next day, nobody said anything, it was complete silence. That was beyond weird for my family. By the time quarter to one rolled round I was beyond irritated with my parents' silence. We all stood in the kitchen and grasped a part of the Gringotts amulet and I quickly said "Aurum" so Dad couldn't wimp out and let go.

We landed in the entrance hall of Gringotts London in Diagon Alley as the letter. The three of us approached a rather grumpy looking goblin teller who simply grunted at us to tell us he was listening. "Hermione Granger, to see account manager Ragnok…" I said clearly. He looked up at us got down from his chair and disappeared for five minutes. When he returned he just mumbled something that sounded like 'follow me' so we did. He led us to an office with Ragnok's name on it, we knocked and a loud shout of "ENTER!" came from inside. "Ah Miss Granger, please sit" a goblin that must have been Ragnok said gesturing me to a seat in front of his desk. Mum and Dad sat in chairs by the door.

"Now onto business, Miss Granger. The goblins here at Gringotts were doing our once every decade full general audit of all the inventory of all the vaults and paperwork in the bank, as to why only once every decade; well it takes nearly that long to complete. Whilst conducting said audits we found some irregularities in the Granger vault both in your own savings vault and your trust vault. These particular vaults using the bank's magic paired them with the vaults of one Hector Dagworth-Granger. Are you aware of any familial connection between yourself and Mr Dagworth-Granger?" the goblin asked leaning his elbows on the desk. "Um… Not that I'm Aware of I had intended investigating the matter myself as I had hear that he was the founder of the 'Most Extraordinary Society of Potioneers' but I was unable to perfect my _Parens_ potion enough to confirm the connection" I replied. Ragnok nodded and looked down at his paper for a moment, then continued with the report. "Gringotts can of course provide you with the inheritance test, should you wish. However there was another irregularity…upon further investigation of vaults and paperwork pertaining to you in particular we found a document signed sixteen years ago with a clause that did not allow anyone to inform to inform you of it until your sixteenth birthday. After that no one may stop the bank disclosing the information to you" he said glaring at my parents, who shrunk a little in their seats at his gaze. He handed me a single sheet of paper. I took it from him and gasped.

_Magical Adoption Contract_

_I do hereby, being of sound mind and body grant custody of _my_ daughter_ _**Hermione**_ to_ the muggles, __**Richard and Jean Granger**__, to raise her until she reaches the age of sixteen, at which the goblins should make her aware of this document. Upon such a time as she is made aware of this adoption she is to be emancipated in the magical world and I should I be deceased in receipt of the full contents of any and all vaults in my possession, superseding all wills made by my as in all possibility they were made under duress. Also at the time of which she is made aware of this give here letter number 394, which at the current time is stored in the Black family vault for safe keeping._

_Signed: __**BBL (Birth-mother)**_

_Signed: __**Richard Granger (adoptive parent)**_

_Signed: __**Jean Granger (adoptive parent)**_

_Signed: __**Bogrod (officiating Goblin)**_

I was stunned, not only was I adopted, my birth mother at least was a witch. I felt like jumping in joyful squeals but was conscious my adoptive parents were sitting right behind me. Also I was magically emancipated now, I could do magic outside school, That would make homework and research a whole lot easier, I could finally crush Draco Malfoy so hard from the usual joint first into second place on the exam results table that he'd have to go all the way back to first year to relearn everything after he recovered from the shock.

Then Ragnok handed me a small envelope with the number 394 written on it in red ink. As much as I wanted to read what was inside, I'd heard a little about the (secretive) Gringotts inheritance test before and was intrigued. I wanted to see how it worked but I knew I had to read the letter first.

_To my darling daughter Hermione,_

_I you are reading this it means that I have went through with the adoption to muggle parents._

_I am truly sorry that I couldn't raise you myself, but circumstances would not allow._

_I implore you not to take the inheritance test; there are things you aren't ready to hear yet even now._

_I'm so sorry it had to turn out this way…_

_Your loving mother_

_BBL_

"I suppose it wouldn't get me anywhere to ask what the initials BBL stand for" Ragnok shook his head 'no' and I leaned back into the chair. "Then I wish to perform the inheritance test" I said with utter conviction. Ragnok called another goblin to bring the equipment. A few agonising minutes later the goblin finally returned with a large sheet of paper and a dagger with different runes carved into it. "Hermione dear, are you sure you want to do this?" My 'Mum' asked cautiously behind me. She probably thinks I'm going to blow up at them and why didn't they tell me etc. I'm not mad at them, although I'm not necessarily pleased either.

"Now Miss Granger we are ready to begin."

_**A/N so that's was the first chapter of my new fic' what did you think of it? Please review If you don't I'll be all :( and also go check out my other story(s)**_

_**Next chapter up next week.**_

_**~Slygrifflepuffclaw**_


	2. Things just got a whole lot worse

_**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER OR ANY CANNON CHARACTERS, I CAN ONLY CLAIM THE PLOT AND ANY ORIGINAL CHARACTERS PRESENT**_

_**The only test Hermione Granger ever failed.**_

_**Chapter 1 Things just got a whole lot more complicated.**_

_Previously; _

"_Now Miss Granger we are ready to begin."_

Ragnok handed me the runic dagger, "Now please place your hand over the parchment on the desk and make a small incision in your palm, don't work the daggers magic will heal it afterwards. Then allow the dagger to be filled with your blood. And then let three drops from the dagger fall onto the parchment; the rest will be saved for identification purposes and other bank business however we will contact you for your permission whenever it is needed in other ways."

I took the blade up in my right hand and made a large slit down my palm. I didn't feel any pain at all, and then I noticed the pain and healing runes at the top of the hilt. Three large drops of blood fell down onto the parchment, I looked away I may have wanted to find out more about my magical relatives but I still couldn't stand the sight of blood. When I looked at my palm again, all I saw was a very faint scar running across it. The rest of the blood was put into a small glass vial, and Ragnok drew my attention to the large roll of parchment that was now covered in extremely neat handwriting that I recognised as my own. "Miss Granger I must tell you that your birth mother did not wish for you to know her identity, I was only able to offer you this test as a result of the connection to Mister Dagworth-Granger… These tests are totally confidential and no one outside of Gringotts bank will know of them however I must ask you not to be too… Upset at what you may find in here. Also, should you wish it; Gringotts may have your adoptive parents' obliviated so that they only remember the section of the meeting about Mr Dagworth-Granger. "I heard 'Dad' begin restrained so that he didn't get into a shouting match with the goblin, something he'd surely regret.

"I think I'll read the results first before I make any rash decisions, Master Ragnok sir." I replied unsure of what could be so bad that my adoptive parents would have to be obliviated.

_Gringotts Inheritance Test_

_Name; Hermione Jean Granger*_

_*Magically adopted by Muggles Richard and Jean Granger._

_Magical Relative though Granger Adoption: Hector Dagworth-Granger._

_Heiress to: _

_House of Dagworth-Granger_

_House affinities _

_Potions_

_Original family;_

_Heiress to:_

_House of Black_

_House of Lestrange _

_Riddle Family_

_House of Gaunt_

_House of Slytherin_

_House of Peverel _

_Original parents:_

_Mother: Bellatrix Lestrange née Black._

_Father: Tom Marvolo Riddle (Believed deceased 31__st__ October 1981)_

_Other living relatives:_

_Sirius Black (cousin and godfather)_

_Narcissa Malfoy née Black (aunt)_

_Lucius Malfoy (uncle through marriage)_

_Draco Malfoy (cousin)_

_Nyphadora Tonks (cousin-disowned)_

_Andromeda Tonks née Black (aunt and godmother-disowned)_

_Rodolphus Lestrange (Step father-incarcerated) _

_Magical Abilities:_

_Parselmouth (Inherited ability)_

_Animagus (Ability Attainable)_

_Familiar Bond (recommended animal; Snake)_

_Active magical blocks;_

_Heavy glamour charms used in magical adoption_

_Magical core restraint to be removed at age sixteen_

I slumped back into my chair, I was the daughter of Voldemort, I had no idea who this Bellatrix Lestrange was but I certainly recognised Tom Riddle. And I was related to Malfoy oh the horror! The only positive piece of information was that the ONLY other name I recognised was Sirius's. At least there was some good in my family, whoever they were….

"Master Ragnok, what does this last section here mean?" I asked quietly as I tried desperately to grasp the facts from the parchment in front of me. The Goblin peered up onto the parchment.

"Ah, yes the first item is about the heavy glamour charms placed on you to make you resemble your adoptive parents, for the adoption. And the second is that there is an invisible barrier up around you Magical core, as a witch of your power coming from a Muggle background is damn near impossible and too many questions would be asked. Both can be removed for you by Gringotts, for a fee, of course" He said with a glint in his eyes

"If the glamour charm was removed, would I be able to reapply one myself?" I asked. The goblin nodded. "Okay. Obliviate my parents and send them back to France"

Ten Minutes later; parents obliviated and on the way out the door I called to them. "Mum, Dad I have some more Business to finish up here but I'll be back later." Dad looked like he wanted to object but I stopped him "Dad you know Muggles can't go down to the vaults." He nodded and a medallion portkey took them back to the villa.

Ragnok took me to another room which featured an altar with more runes carved into it and several mirrors scattered around the round room. "Two of our best curse breakers will be with you momentarily." Ragnok said before leaving and locking the door behind him. I went and examined the runes on the altar and figured out that it was for the block on the core and all I could think of for the mirrors was for after they broke the glamour charm, but knowing Gringotts the probably had some Arcane purpose. Suddenly the door opened and two people in long white robed entered the dark room. I didn't recognise the first one he was tall with long red hair he grinned as he entered the room, kind of reminding me of the Weasleys'. The second one was a shorter woman, still quite tall but not as tall as the red haired one, she had long flowing white blond hair and deep blue eyes, she almost looked like…

"Fleur?" I breathed. This was not good Fleur knew who I was… "'Ow do you…Oh wait, I know you, you are 'Arry's friend and Krum's 'Ostage." She said smiling. The other one smiled at this too. "So you're the infamous Hermione Granger everyone in my family keeps ranting on about" He held out his hand and I shook it uneasily "I apologise, where my manners, Bill Weasley, at your service" Ha! So I was right he is a Weasley. "Now what have we got her core block and glamour charms" Bill continued. "Right Hermione, hop up on the altar and we'll get this block removed, shall we?" I lay down on the altar. "Eet's okay 'Ermione , you won't feel a thing." Fleur reassured me as she and Bill started casting complex incantations. I blacked out soon after.

When I woke up, I felt…different. Yeah that was it different. After a couple of minutes I sat up on the altar. Bill and Fleur were asleep on a conjured couch in the corner of the room next to the door. I wanted to get up and look in one of the mirrors, but part of me was scared, I mean Harry's physical description of Voldemort was hardly pleasant. I didn't know what this Bellatrix woman looked like but if Sirius was anything to go on I hoped to look more like her than my father.

Another couple of minutes went by and finally Bill woke up; "Ah, Hermione you're awake!" he said looking slightly relived. "After you passed out we removed the block on your core and the glamour charms. I'll teach you the spell to reapply them, partially or fully in a minute. Come and look in the mirror." He said beckoning me towards the full length mirror beside Fleur's sleeping form.

I looked into the mirror and gasped. I had grown several inches; my hair was now black as nights and slightly curly, my chest had swelled a couple of sizes, my skin was really pale and I looked up at my face and stared into my deep bottomless red eyes. Bill tapped me on the shoulder and I turned around to see him and Fleur standing their looking me up and down, however the seemed to stop and look uneasily at my eyes. "Now to reapply the charm, just picture yourself as you were before and say the spell 'Galmori' like so" He then did the spell and when I looked back into the mirror I was regular Hermione Granger again. "Now we can't tell anyone like Harry or Ron or anyone unless you give us permission, but Hermione most of the things n that paper are best not widely known." He smiled at me and with that I was standing back in the Gringotts Atrium with a Gold medallion in my hand. I pocketed it and walked out the door into a sunny Diagon Alley.

I spent what seemed like hours wandering the alley studying the bookshelves of Flourish & Blotts, having an ice cream in Fortesque's ice cream parlour but as I passed the Magical Menagerie I remembered what the results of the inheritance test said I could have a familiar bond with an animal, now I love Crookshanks, but that cat is way too stubborn to form a bond with anyone. Opened the door and walked into the shop and looked around it was pretty much deserted; except for one kid buying a Hogwarts owl. When the shop was empty again I went up to the counter to ask about a particular type of animal…

"Oh, I remember you. You're the girl who took the perpetually getting up on the wrong side of the bed half-kneazel off my hands two years ago. How is the old cat doing?" the shopkeeper asked with a pleasant smile. "Emm… Yeah he's stubborn as ever." I said half grimacing back "Listen I was wondering, do you by any chance have any snakes" The shopkeepers face fell, her eyes became cold and all the cheerfulness disappeared. "I might have…" she said looking around the shop to make sure there was no one else there and then in a hushed tone said "follow me" and disappeared through a door at the rear of the shop

I followed her in and saw what she was so secretive about. There in a glass take was a large Black Mamba. It was beautiful I found myself drawn to its large unblinking eyes. "Got this in about a month ago; came in with the owls and such. Don't know what the man thought I was going to do with a snake like that. Listen you'd be doing me a big favour taking him off my hands, so I tell you what you can have him for ten galleons." I nodded, counted out the money and handed it to her. "Right well, it nearly closing time I'll be right back to box him up for ya'!" And with that she left the room.

"_**Hello there, whatssss your name great sssnake**_?" I asked. The snake raised its head and blinked. "_**Oh my god I just spoke in Parceltounge didn't I**_?" I gasped. I looked back at the snake and it was fully awake now. _**"Indeed you did ssspeaker. My name is Balthazar, but you may call me Zar for sssshort. Now what may I do for you?"**_ He blinked again. Balthazar that was a good name for a snake… I think this is the first one I've met that wasn't conjured by my stupid cousin. _**"I wasss wondering if you would want to form a familiar bond with me?" **_The snake looked down as if he was considering my proposal… _**"Ok, anything to get out of this place. That woman does not know how to look after a ssssnake. Now I could just go out on your body as a tattoo, I do hate boxessss." **_I nodded and opened the top of the glass case Zar just slithered up my arm and when I lifted up my sleeve there was a perfect tattoo of a black mamba coiled around my arm. I walked up the stairs to the door thanked the shop keeper for her time and that a box wouldn't be necessary. I walked over to the post office and got an owl to send a letter to my parents telling them I was too tired to come all the way back to France and would go home and see them when they came back tomorrow night.

I was being picked up tomorrow, and brought somewhere safe to Harry and Ron. I also have some serious questions to ask Sirius…

_**A/N Well that's chapter two done as always review and tell me what you thought :)**_


	3. What's up cuz?

_**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER OR ANY CANNON CHARACTERS, I CAN ONLY CLAIM THE PLOT AND ANY ORIGINAL CHARACTERS PRESENT**_

_**The only test Hermione Granger ever failed.**_

_**Chapter2: What's up cuz?**_

_Previously _

_I was being picked up tomorrow, and brought somewhere safe to Harry and Ron. I also have some serious questions to ask Sirius…__** (A/N: Ha-ha, get it?)**_

I finally got home around half seven. I didn't really feel like eating. I think I was still in shock form earlier; I mean it's not every day that you find out your dad is fucking Voldemort! I just went straight up to my room and collapsed onto my bed, and soon everything went black.

I woke up the following morning to excessive banging on my bedroom window, wait any banging on my bedroom window was excessive. I looked up towards the window and saw a midnight black owl sitting there glaring at me. I got up and opened the window and it flew down onto my bed, dropped the letter it was carrying and flew back out the window. I looked at the handwriting on the envelope. It was familiar but I couldn't place where I'd seen it before. Before I could open it though; Pigwidgeon cam zooming in through the open window, and fell straight onto my bed beside the first letter. I took the letter off his leg and he zoomed out the window. I opened pig's letter first. It was in Sirius's handwriting, short, simple, and to the point.

_Hermione,_

_One o'clock. Be ready._

_Snuffles_

I looked over at the alarm clock beside my bed, half past eleven. I had plenty of time. I turned my attention to the second letter. I wondered who it could be from. If it was Harry, he would have sent Hedwig and Pig just came with Sirius's note. I opened it and started to read…

_My dearest Hermione,_

_With any luck this letter will reach you some time after your sixteenth birthday. If not please don't read on until Gringotts have contacted you._

_Now that that's out of the way, I'm going to assume you're as stubborn as me and dislike taking orders as much as your father. And that even though I told you not to in my last letter you took the inheritance test anyway. I just hope that you never have to meet my family, trust me Hermione they're not nice people except for Sirius and Andromeda._

_I hope for both your and my sake that you have absolutely no idea who the name Bellatrix Lestrange belongs to. Just understand Hermione that I have done some things I'm not proud of; I hid you away because I started to see that Sirius and Andromeda were right most of our family is evil, I was blinded by love for your father, and an arranged marriage to another man. You deserved better than I could give you and I'm sorry_

_I doubt we will ever see each other, and if we do I'll probably be in a box. Just know my baby, that I have always loved you._

_Your loving mother,_

_Trixie_

I stared at the letter for several minutes, it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out my real mother was in Azkaban. So she was probably a death eater. Wonderful, I'm the spawn of Voldemort and one of his death eaters! I quickly got dressed and put my copy of the inheritance test results and the two letters from Bellatrix in my trunk and started dragging it down the stairs, but then I remembered what Ragnok had said about my emancipation and how I could do magic outside of school now. "Wingardium Leviosa" I said quietly with the obligatory swish and flick of my wand and my trunk started floating down the stairs. After my trunk was down beside the front door, I went into the kitchen and got myself some porridge for breakfast and went and set down at the table and started reading _'How to become an Animagus for dummies' _It was actually quite interesting, although I'd have to wait until I went back to Hogwarts because I couldn't do the human transfiguration and the other first step was a potion, I could always tell Snape I wanted to do it for extra credit, despite the fact it was an above NEWT level potion, he'd probably think I was just being an insufferable know it all in her quest for knowledge. I was really getting into the book when I felt something on my arm; I jumped up and screamed like a little girl. I looked down at the table and saw Balthazar lying there looking up at me head tilted to the side _**"What's wrong ssspeaker?" **_He asked his black mouth gleaming, _**"Yesss I am fine, you just ssstartled me… I had forgotten you were there."**_ I paused for a minute to look at the clock, Five to one. "Shit. _**Zar go back into a tattoo now, othersss will be here ssssoon."**_ I commanded as he made a hissing noise the sounded like a child grumbling when it doesn't want to do something and just as he sunk into my skin I heard a 'CRACK' from outside. Shit they were here. I stowed the animagus book in my trunk as they rang the doorbell. I opened the door to see who Dumbledore had sent to pick me up. Standing at the door was a tall woman, dressed in a trench coat and combat boots and had bubble gum pink hair. The other one was a tall scarred man in old tatty robes and he had cold, pained eyes.

"Hello Professor Lupin. And who's this?" I asked gesturing towards his pink haired companion. "Ah Hermione, it's good to see you, and I'm not a professor anymore though, as for your other question; Hermione Granger meet Nyphadora Tonks, Tonks mee…" The rest of his introduction was cut short by the aforementioned Nyphadora "I TOLD YOU DON'T CALL ME NYMPHADORA!" She shouted. I could already tell I was going to like this girl. Wait a second Nymphadora, Shit! she's my cousin! We walked into the sitting room. And sat down for a minute, then Remus seemed to tense up. He got up and pointed his wand at me and asked; "When did Hermione Granger first suspect that I was a Werewolf?" His face was pale and he looked kind of angry. "After Professor Snape set us an essay about werewolves out of the blue in the middle of third year, but I knew for sure when we were all in the shrieking shack with Sirius and the rat, then I hexed Snape and you transformed as soon as we got outside." I replied calmly as he lowered his wand.

"I'm sorry about that Hermione, but there's residual magic in the air as well as some glamour charms. We can't be too careful now that Voldemort's back." I nodded "Shall we go then?" he nodded "Where's your trunk?" Tonks asked, she seemed a bit too happy… "It's over by the front door" I replied and she left the room. "`Remus, have you heard from Sirius; is he alright?" He seemed to brighten a bit. "Well you'll see for yourself in a minute." He said smiling I was about to ask him what he meant when Tonks came bounding back into the room. "Alright ready to go, Hermione take my arm." She said looking at me expectantly; I looked to Remus who just nodded. So I took hold of her arm and suddenly I felt a jerk and then I felt like I was being squeezed down a long, thin, rubber tube. A second later me, Remus and Tonks were standing in a square surrounded by old Georgian houses. Remus handed me a piece of paper that read _'Number 12 Grimauld Place' _I turned to him a confused look on my face. "Just think about exactly what it says and look around you." He said quietly looking around; I looked at the paper and looked around the houses. There was no number 12 Grimauld place, but just as I thought that it began to slide out from between numbers 10 and 11. Quickly Remus and Tonks led me up the steps and through the front door.

The house was extremely dark. I followed Remus down the hall when I heard a 'clunk' behind me. Tonks had fallen over what looked like a troll foot umbrella stand that was just barbaric. Then beside me some curtains flew open and all I heard was this awful screeching…

"DIRTY FILTHY MUDBLOODS AND BLOOD TRAITORS SULLING THE HOUSE OF BLACK! I…" Suddenly Sirius came into the hallway. "NO ONE CARES ABOUT YOU, YOU OLD BAT! REMUS HELP ME!" and then they yanked both the curtains shut. Everyone caught their breath for a moment and Tonks muttered a 'sorry'. Sirius turned away from the now covered painting. "Well Hermione I see you've met my good old mum" he said embracing me in a warm hug. All I could think of was I'm related to that. After I said my hellos to everyone else and was assaulted with hugs by Molly Weasley; I went down to the kitchen looking for Sirius. He was sitting with Remus and Arthur by the fire and Tonks was sitting at the table talking to Ginny.

"Sirius, Remus, Tonks. Can I talk to you for a minute…? In private?" as I said this I caught the suspicious look on Molly's face. There was a chorus of 'sure' and 'yes'. I walked up the stairs and went into the tapestry room; it had the entire family tree stitched into the walls. I conjured four armchairs and a table, as soon as we were all in the room I pointed my wand at the door "Clauditis ostium…muffiliato" the three others shared a confused look as they sat down.

"Now I guess you're all wondering why I wanted to talk to you. Well in your case Remus I didn't but you nearly caught me earlier when you questioning me. Now Sirius, Dora (I got a strong death glare) what do you too have in common apart from your sense of humour?" I asked they looked at each other, clearly confused. It was Remus who answered the question "They're related. Tonks's Mum is Sirius's cousin." He said pointing at the two burn out parts of the tapestry where Sirius and Andromeda used to be. They looked at me dumbfounded "But Hermione, you only met Tonks today, how did you know we were related?" Sirius asked.

"Right, well I better start at the beginning, instead of skipping back and forth…and if you interrupt me I'll hex you." They all nodded cautiously. "Alright, two days ago I was in my villa in France with my parents when a Gringotts owl came swooping down and gave me a letter, telling me that me and my parents were expected in Gringotts London the following day and to use the attached portkey. We went to the meeting and this is where you start to pay attention. I went to the meeting with my parents, and as a passing comment Ragnok asked if I was related to a Hector Dagworth-Granger, the founder of the extraordinary society for potioneers. I said that I didn't know and then we got onto the matter at hand… I'm adopted. After he told me that he showed me the adoption certificate and a letter from my birth mother. Then despite my birth mothers wishes I took the Inheritance test…"

Remus was the first to interrupt; "But what I don't see is how this connects to the two of them, or what I came across for that matter, all I said was about the residual magic and the…*gulps* glamour charms." I glared at him "Yes Remus I was getting to that. My birth mother magically emancipated me when I knew of the adoption. The inheritance test went fine until I got to the living relatives section, as I only recognised the name of one of my birth parents and really they're better off dead." I took my copy of the test results out of my pocket and unfolded them. "Ah, here we are. Other living relatives;_ Sirius Black (cousin and godfather), Nyphadora Tonks (cousin-disowned),_

_Andromeda Tonks née Black (aunt and godmother-disowned) _Now, Sirius is the tapestry magical or are people added manually?" Sirius looked at me he may not be the smartest academically, but he could figure out that I wasn't Narcissa's daughter. "Can I please see that Hermione?" He asked pointing at the result I nodded and handed it to him. He and Tonks started reading through it from the top, while Remus took the shorter route and stood, drawing his wand and broke the glamour charm, just as the other two were getting to the parents part of the test.

Remus and Sirius were the first to see it "Bellatrix" they both said at once. Sirius took the parchment off Tonks and went over to part of the tapestry and started muttering in Latin. I looked back at Tonks "Well what do you say cuz? Family?" I asked, but before I could get another word out I was being hugged to death. "Dora…need...to…breathe…" She let go and her hair turned bright red. "Sorry Hermione. It's just I've wanted a girl in the family for ever, well as long as it wasn't a Malfoy!" She was about to start a fresh assault of hugs, Sirius interrupted; "Sorry to break up the family bonding Hermione, But I was editing the tapestry while I was looking over your test; and it says your dad died on the 31st of October 1981… It isn't Him is it? He looked nervous he was probably focusing on my red eyes. "Yes Sirius but, I don't really want to talk about it…" I really didn't think I was really ready to come to terms with the fact that my dad is Voldemort. "Yeah sure Hermione, but you're going to have to talk to Dumbledore about it…here come look at this." I went over to the point of the tapestry that Sirius was standing at.

There on the wall was Bellatrix and Rodolphus Lestrange, however on Bellatrix's other side there was a very handsome young man whose eyes seemed to draw you in even in a picture, and I looked at the name Tom Riddle. Underneath both of them thought was a picture of me in my real un glamour charmed face and it read _Hermione Black._

_**A/N That's chapter 2 folks emm as always review and tell me what you thought new chapter soon.**_


	4. A Meeting with Dumbledore

_**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER OR ANY CANNON CHARACTERS, I CAN ONLY CLAIM THE PLOT AND ANY ORIGINAL CHARACTERS PRESENT**_

_**The only test Hermione Granger ever failed.**_

_**Chapter 3: A meeting with Dumbledore**_

_Previously_

_However on Bellatrix's other side there was a very handsome young man whose eyes seemed to draw you in even in a picture, and I looked at the name Tom Riddle. Underneath both of them thought was a picture of me in my real un-glamour charmed face and it read Hermione Black._

I stood there gawking at the tapestry on the wall. While the other three occupants of the room were discussing what we were all going to do next. "We have to put the glamour charms back on before someone sees her!" (Tonks)

"We should get her to Albus; he'll know what to do." (Remus)

"I think we should all just calm down, and think this through…" We all just stared at Sirius, none of them had realised that they were shouting; and then Sirius becomes the voice of reason, what is the world coming to? "Right, Remus got see if Albus is available… Tonks you go run interference with the Weasley's… I have something to show Hermione…" They both nodded and left the room as Hermione unlocked the door.

Sirius led me threw the large house avoiding anybody else who might be snooping around… Finally they reached a large set of black double doors. Sirius pushed them open, and my jaw dropped. It was a massive library, bigger than the one at Hogwarts. Sirius started walking and I ran to follow him staring at all the books as I went. I passed some books I'd rather not have seen; like one called '_Animagics Moste Dark'. _"Sirius, where are we going?" I asked as the titles of the books started implying darker and darker material.

"We're nearly there Hermione, just try to keep up…This library is quite large and even family members have been lost for days in its shelves, trying to get out…" He led on and finally, he stopped. We stood in front of a large fireplace that Sirius lit as he sat down in a nice comfortable armchair; I sat opposite and sat quietly as he looked up at the sleeping portrait.

"REGULUS ARCHTURAS BLACK, WAKE UP!" The portrait nearly jumped out of its skin… if that was even possible. "Regulus, I need you to do something for me..." the portrait of Regulus just glared at Sirius. "…Fetch, Bella would you?" Sirius asked. Regulus blanched looked uneasily at us for a minute, then nodded and left the frame. "Hermione, I want you to know who your mother was before she met your father, she was a very good person, she even tried to make friends with Lilly at the start, but after she met your father she just sort of went down a slippery slope… I think she was starting to see what she had done around the time you were born. The fact that she let you be adopted by Muggles proves that, it was also the last place anyone would look for you, if your existence was ever discovered. There was a reason all the Blacks except me were in Slytherin; their cunning and sense of self preservation, although I think Bella would have made an excellent Hufflepuff…"

"Correct on all counts Sirius, except the Hufflepuff thing, I would have made a much better Ravenclaw!" He was interrupted by a soft, sweet voice coming from the portrait. I looked up at the old, dusty frame and I saw a beautiful woman displayed on the canvas. She was a near exact copy of my unglamoured form, her face more resembled Sirius's and she had dark brown eyes, unlike my blood red ones. "Now who is this… let me see…? She has all the black features, she holds herself high, and so she can't be yours Sirius that leaves me, Dromeda, Narcissa and Regulus. She's too young to be a Tonks, and Reggie died too early so…" she looked me straight in the eyes and gasped, just as 'Zar slithered out from under my sleeve. "Well I guess that answers that question. What your name?" She asked with a sweet smile. I was failing to see how this woman was ever considered evil.

"Apparently, my name is Hermione Black, but, up until yesterday I was Hermione Jean Granger." She smiled and turned to Sirius again;

"Give her a locket tonight and a mirror before she goes back to Hogwarts. I don't care what Dumbledore says, and I know you already sent someone to him. Oh that reminds me tell the old bastard… 'The raven is ready to leave the nest'. He'll know what it means; also the death eaters are planning a mass breakout of Azkaban. Be ready. I have to go, I'll talk to you soon Hermione and if at all possible keep as far away from your father as you can." She said as she left the frame leaving only the sleeping Regulus on the canvas.

Suddenly Remus's head burst into the fireplace. "Sirius he's ready for you." He said his tome grim.

"Okay, I just need to go get some floo powder we'll be there in a minute." He stood, helping me up. "Do you want to take the snake with you?" He said as Zar curled up beside the fire, _**"Zar; stay here but keep out of sight, there should be some mice downstairs, if you're hungry" **_ I smiled at him as he lifted his head and nodded his head and began to slither away.

We both stepped in to the emerald green flames and appeared in Professor Dumbledore's office. "Ah Miss Granger…" Sirius glared at him "…Sorry Miss Black would you like to take a seat?" He asked gesturing to an empty chair beside Remus. "Now due to the fact that your magical adoption is pretty much null in void as of yesterday, you will have to be resorted when you return to Hogwarts, in accordance with the rules. Now the way I see it we can do this… Either we tell the general school population or we tell them that Miss Granger transferred to Beaubatons and that you are a new student, now your close friends would know the truth, such as Harry, Ron and Ginny but the rest of the school would be oblivious." He chuckled and reached to a small bowl of lemon drops offering all the occupants of the room one before popping one in his own mouth. "Now it is quite possible that yesterday's events at Gringotts changed what house the Hat will put you in, the substantial power increase for one he said looking down at my copy of the test results that Remus had taken with him. "Now we will still do one for show on the first of September, but I would like to put the hat on you now while I look over this again to see what it thinks, as unlike me it's never wrong." I nodded and Remus took the Hat down from its pedestal on the shelf it sat on.

Suddenly I felt the eerily familiar presence inside my head… _"Ah Miss Granger back again, wait now Miss Black now. Aren't we moving up in the world! Now I have to resort you so let's make this quick. Ah that's interesting you're different from the last time we met."_

"_Hmmm, but where to put you… You're not the spontaneous family history defying type like you Aunt and cousins', so putting you in Gryffindor again is out. You are not a Hufflepuff, too much of a temper, and not enough sex drive…" _I giggled at that. Apparently the rumours of what goes on in the Hufflepuff common room were true.

"_Ravenclaw would suit you well enough but your blood, calls to the Noble and ancient house of your ancestor from the House of Gaunt and Slytherin. Hmmm. Where to put you indeed; better be SLYTHERIN!"_

Well that was a shock. I mean I know I'm related to the guy, but I didn't think that I'd actually have to go to Slytherin. I was drawn out of my deep thoughts by Dumbledore addressing me again. "Well Miss Granger, I think that concludes our business for this evening, you will have a lot to explain to the Weasleys when you get back… When you decide what to do about what I have to tell people, just tell Remus and he'll pass on the message" He smile again and his eyes twinkled behind his half-moon spectacles. Sirius then chose to speak up;

"Albus, I have a message for you… 'The raven is ready to leave the nest' and the Death Eaters are planning a mass Azkaban breakout. I just thought you should know sooner rather than later. But we should bring this up at the meeting tomorrow. Oh and I want to nominate Hermione for membership of the Order…" He trailed away at the last bit as Dumbledore went white as marble and Remus just started glaring at him.

"Very well, I thank you for the information and I will consider your…request. Although you know Molly will try to stop you." He smiled weakly as we all stood to leave. "I shall see you soon Miss Black and as always remember; Help will always be given at Hogwarts to those who ask for it. Now back to Grimauld Place with you before Tonks says something she shouldn't."

I stepped into the green flames between Sirius and Remus. As soon as my feet hit the cold, stone floor I heard lots of shouting. All the Weasleys were at the end of the table closest to us, shouting at Tonks, Mad Eye Moody and a tall, black man in long purple robes. Remus cleared his throat loudly and everyone looked at him including me and Sirius. Molly just stared at me and went to start shouting again, no doubt thinking I was my mother, but this time Sirius intervened. "Molly Prewitt Weasley DON'T YOU DARE say one more word, you hear me? All of you sit down, this is going to take a while." Nobody moved except Tonks, who went to stand beside Remus, there might have been something going on there, but at the moment I had more pressing matters. It was only when Remus started screaming that people started to move towards the nearest available chair, nobody wanted to anger him this close to a full moon.

I stepped forward and Molly recoiled and Arthur shrunk down in his seat. "Now, everyone I think it would be better for everyone if I put the glamour charms back on don't you?" I flicked my wand and I started to turn back into Hermione Granger. I waited a minute to let them get over the shock "Now yesterday I went for an appointment a Gringotts. Needless to say I was shocked when the goblin pulled out a magical adoption certificate and a letter from my real mother. I then took the Inheritance test…" Mrs Weasley gasped, the test was somewhat frowned upon due to its use of blood magic. "…I had to have a core block and glamour charms removed by Bill and Fleur; and don't be angry at them they were just doing their job. So as of now I am the daughter of Bellatrix Lestrange and Tom Marvolo Riddle…" Ginny and Mad eye both flinched, all the others just looked confused, so I drew my wand and wrote _Tom Marvolo Riddle _in the air in front of them; and with a flick of my wand the letters began to rearrange themselves, like they did in the Chamber of Secrets…

_I AM LORD VOLDEMORT. _ Now there was a collective gasp from the entire room. "Oh Hermione dear, you poor thing" Molly said as she engulfed me in one of her bone crushing hugs. Then it was Fred and Georges turn to speak up. "Hey!" (Fred)

"How did you?" (George)

"Do that magic letter switching" (Fred)

"You're not even…" (George)

"Seventeen!" they both finished in unison. I was about to open my mouth when Sirius stepped in. "The Black seal on the adoption documents made sure that when Hermione saw the documents in Gringotts yesterday she was magically emancipated so she no longer has the trace." He stated plainly

"Wicked" was all the twins could come up with.

"Now this is Hermione's third time explaining this today so I think it's high time we all went to bed. Hermione you're sharing with Ginny. Ok is that everything? Yes? Excellent!" and left the room before anyone could say anything else. Soon after Ginny started leading me up several flights of the dark stairs until we got to our room. It wasn't as dark as the rest of the house but it was still fairly gloomy. I saw my trunk already at the foot of my bed. I wonder how Zar was finding the house, I would try finding him now but it would probably freak Ginny out more, and she was already giving me weird looks, but I sort of figured that would happen I mean my dad possessed her she's bound to act differently towards me now…

Sirius came into the room a short time later. "Hermione, can I speak to you for a moment… in private?" I got up off my bed and walked out into the hallway with Sirius. He took a large gold and black locket out of his pocket and handed it to me. "This is a Black family locket; it will let you talk to any of the portraits in the house; although why you'd want to talk to most of them is beyond me… it's mainly for talking to your mother." He hesitated for a moment as if he was unsure of whether or not he should do something. Then he handed me a large hand mirror with a black frame around it. "…And this is one of the family mirrors, it works kind of like a telephone, you just say the person's name and they appear using their own mirror and you can talk. I've will give one to Harry so that he can talk to me, you might find that useful when you go back, the switching house isn't going to be easy…" I jumped up and hugged him.

"Thanks Sirius!" He smiled and wished me a goodnight. I turned to go back into my room, but I just had to ask him something that had been on my mind all day, since I got the second letter from my mother. "Sirius wait!" he turned around to look at me again his face contorting into a confused and questioning expression. "What did my mother do to get put in Azkaban?" His face darkened suddenly and his eyes went back to the cold, dark ones I'd seen a year ago.

"Apart from being a convicted Death Eater and one of your father's top Lieutenants, she was one of the people involved in the torture to insanity by means of the cruciatus curse of…Frank and Alice Longbottom…"

_**A/N: And that my friends is chapter 3. Don't forget to review and tell me what you thought. It's coming up towards summer exams here so any chapters in the next three-four weeks will be VERY short.**_

_**~Slygrifflepuffclaw.**_


	5. The Society for Roasted Turkeys

_**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER OR ANY CANNON CHARACTERS, I CAN ONLY CLAIM THE PLOT AND ANY ORIGINAL CHARACTERS PRESENT**_

_**The only test Hermione Granger ever failed.**_

_**Chapter 4: The Society for Roasted Turkeys**_

The next several weeks passed by really quickly but what Sirius had said that night kept niggling away at me. My mum had tortured Neville's parents to insanity. It put it all into stark perspective for me. My mum and dad were both serial killers, isn't that a nice thought.

Harry arrived last night and he was pretty shook up. They told him I hadn't arrived yet; it's probably for the best though. I have to break the news to him after lunch. It's nerve racking. Sirius called Harry out of the room to take him to the family tapestry room. I got up and followed. Sirius was still explaining the tapestry to Harry, and Harry was freaking out that Sirius was related to the Malfoy family, this was going to be a long afternoon…

Sirius began to speak again as Harry fingered the large burn mark where Sirius had been. "Harry… couple of weeks ago Hermione came to see me and Tonks." This got Harry's attention as he looked away from the tapestry. "…She had been to Gringotts and… and they had told her that she's adopted. She's a Black Harry. We didn't tell you straight away because we knew you'd ask who her parents are…" Harry had a confused look on his face and went to turn back to the tapestry to try and find me as I stepped out from behind the door. "Don't bother looking, I'll tell you myself."

Harry whirled around; looking from me to Sirius, and back to me again. "Who are you" he asked reaching for his wand, but Sirius beat him to it grabbing his arm and taking his wand. "It's like Sirius said. I went to Gringotts last month and I found out that I was adopted when I was three weeks old…" I cringed at this bit. I knew that my mum did it to protect me, but it still hurts. "…They had Bill and Fleur remove the block on my magical core to make me seem more muggle and the glamour charms that made me look like the Hermione Granger you know and love. But if you were asking for the name on the tapestry; my name is Hermione Sophia Black, daughter to Bellatrix Cassiopeia Black and Tom Riddle Jr." I stood there as Harry's jaw dropped and his eyes started to water. I crossed the room quickly, and wrapped my arms around him. "Everything's going to be fine Harry; Ok? I'm still the same Hermione everyone knows and loves except now I look a little different." I said firmly. I felt him nod into my shoulder. "Okay I'm going to leave you two to catch up and go to see Remus about Dumbledore's offer…"

I disentangled myself from Harry and made my way towards the door as Sirius shouted something about roasted turkeys. I went upstairs to find Remus, who was sitting in his room looking at some old photos. I knocked softly on the door and walked into the room. "Hey Remus, can you tell Dumbledore that I've made my decision about what to tell Hogwarts." He smiled and said "You can tell him yourself at the order meeting tonight. I think he's going to let you join, probably so you can spy on the junior death eaters in Slytherin; and if your dad finds out about you, which he probably will you can be a spy with you mother." He said smiling another one of his sad smiles that he gets when there's a full moon coming up.

"Thank you Remus, I'll see you later then." I said as I smiled and closed the door. Only a couple of more hours until I became a spy for the, as Sirius liked to put it; The Society for Roasted Turkeys… I walked down the hall to mine and Ginny's room and sat down on the bed to read but after about five minutes I was asleep.

"_**Hermione RUN! Get as far away as you can!" yelled an unfamiliar voice coming from the sillouete in front of me before it was all obliterated in a bright light.**_

"Hermione! Hermione wake up it's time for dinner." Ginny said as she tried to shake me awake. Her eyes were filled with concern. "You were tossing and turning and you were muttering something to yourself like 'not him. No not him.' Are you ok Mione?"

"Yeah Ginny, I'm fine…Let's go down to dinner then, before Ron eats it all." She smiled at that. I think she's starting to thaw out a bit, although I'd be a bit cold if I discovered that my best friends parents were a homicidal madman bent on world domination and blood purity and an insane serial killer with a predilection for torture.

When we got down to the kitchen Ron had indeed started without us as we sat down on either side of Tonks Ron was already on what we were informed was his third or fourth helping. Everything was going along fine until Harry asked what was going on with Voldemort. Molly was furious when Sirius started to tell him _'He's just a boy Sirius'_ Harry was determined that he was going to join the Order. I could see it in his eyes. After all the children were forcefully pushed from the room By Mrs Weasley I sat on the chair outside the door for about five minutes while Harry, Fred and George were all trying to listen from upstairs using the extendable ears. Another ten minutes passed and the screaming match between Mrs Weasley and Sirius had started again. Almost immediately after they woke up Sirius's mother for the fifth time Professor Dumbledore arrive with McGonagall and Snape.

"Good evening Miss Black. Would you, Mister Potter and the Weasley twins; who are undoubtedly listening in on us at this very moment…" said Dumbledore looking up to the landing where Harry, Fred and George were perched with their extendable ears. "…care to join us for the meeting?"

"Yes sir." I replied hoping not to sound too eager. He smiled and turned to enter the room. "Oh and sir…" I called after him.

"Yes, Miss Black?"

"I've made my decision sir."

His eyes seem to twinkle behind his half-moon spectacles. "Very well Miss Black. I look forward to seeing you for the sorting next week. And I have seen fit to grant Sirius's request to allow you to join the Order regardless of what your decision might be. I shall discuss it with you in more detail later."

By now Harry and the twins had made it down to the door and all six of us entered at once. Molly's face went Gryffindor red and started ranting about how we were all too young, until Dumbledore put up his hand to silence her. "I now call to order this meeting of the Order of the Phoenix. The first order of business is to induct our four new members. I would ask Hermione Black, Fred and George Weasley and Harry Potter to stand. These are our newest members and I would like you all to welcome them. Now our next our next order of business is protection duty. Alastor you'll take the first month and we'll appoint someone else at a later date." He said looking down the table at Moody.

The meeting dragged on for another hour and a half and finished with Snape telling everyone what Voldemort was planning. All the Order members not staying at the house got up and slowly filled out of the room; then Mrs Weasley got up and fled the room in a rage. I got up and walked over to Dumbledore, who was engaged in conversation with Sirius at the moment.

As I approached he turned from Sirius and smiled "Ah Miss Granger, I hear that you have made your decision as regards to the flow of information at Hogwarts."

"Yes Professor, I have. I have decided that I'll keep my identity a secret When I go to the Ministry tomorrow with Harry, Mister Weasley and yourself; while Harry has his hearing I shall go to the Department Of Magical Records and change my name back to Black but switching my first name and middle name, as I think it would be a bit suspicious if Hermione Ganger disappeared and then suddenly Hermione Black comes storming through. I mean I know Malfoy and his goons aren't that bright but even they would think something is up." Professor Dumbledore nodded although his facial expression told me that he didn't exactly approve of my example for getting my point across. "So when Sophia Black come marching into the Slytherin common room no one will bat an eyelid. You can tell the school that me and my parents died in a car crash while we were in France. And Harry, Ron and Ginny can pretend to scatter my ashes near the Black lake. I want this to be thoroughly convincing. Also I would like to ask that I join Professor Snape and my mother in spying on my dad… after the prison break."

Dumbledore stood there for a minute considering what I had just said. I had to admit to myself sending a fifteen year old girl to be a wartime spy did seem a bit unethical but, however crazy Voldemort had become he wouldn't torture and kill his only daughter…would he?

I was drawn out of my thoughts when the headmaster started talking again. "Very well Ms Gran-sorry Ms Black, be ready to leave for the ministry at seven o'clock sharp. I wouldn't be surprised if Cornelius moved the hearing up just so he could expel Harry. Goodnight Ms Black, I shall see you in the morning." Then he turned around and disappeared in the green flames of Floo travel into the fire place.

Sirius looked like he wanted to argue with my decision but kept his mouth shut and said goodnight before sending me in the general direction of my bedroom. Tomorrow is going to be a long day.

_**A/N: That's it for this chapter folks. I promise the next one will be longer but I've been kinda busy lately so I haven't been able to do much writing.**_

_**As always please review and tell me what you thought of the chapter and ther should be another one fingers crossed next week.**_

_-Slygrifflepuffclaw._


	6. The Ministry

_**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER OR ANY CANNON CHARACTERS, I CAN ONLY CLAIM THE PLOT AND ANY ORIGINAL CHARACTERS PRESENT**_

_**The only test Hermione Granger ever failed.**_

_**Chapter 5: The Ministry**_

The following morning Molly got me and Harry up at six am, so that even if Fudge tried to pull a fast one Harry would still be perfectly on time.

Harry seemed to just be just a bag of nerves, everything was riding on this for him, if he lost he would be expelled and have his wand snapped like Hagrid's. I had tried to reassure him but he was still sensitive after my revelation yesterday. Which he had every right to, I mean it's not every day you find out that your best friend is the child of the evil madman who killed your parents and is hell bent on murdering you! To tell the truth I was rather nervous too. I was about to go to the ministry and tell them who I was and change my name back to Hermione Sophia Black. Knowing Fudge he'd lock me up for no reason like Sirius.

Mr Weasley was absolutely fascinated with the tube so it took three times as long to get through that part of the journey. We finally got off in Westminster. We walked for about five minutes before Mr Weasley just stopped beside a telephone box and told us to get in. He chuckled saying something about never going in the visitors' entrance before. The phone box was cramped… No cramped is an understatement, there was literally no space once the three of us squeezed in.

After we had stated our purposes for visiting and affixed our visitors' badges on we went to the security desk. The guard on the desk barely looked up at us as we approached. "Place your wand on the scales and state your full name." he said in a dull bored tone. His hand listed lazily to poin set of golden scales on the top of the desk.

I placed my wand on the scales, which seemed to glow for a second "Hermione Jean Granger"

A piece of paper shot out of the side of the scales and he ripped it off. "10 ¾ inches vine wood with dragon heartstring. Is that correct Ms Granger?" I nodded as he handed me back my wand and the piece of paper "Please keep that paper with you for the duration of your visit."

I said a tense goodbye to Harry and Mister Weasley agreeing to go to Mr Weasley's office after I was finished. I walked through the large golden gates to the right of the security desk. I stood for a moment looking at the golden fountain showing a witch, a wizard, a goblin, and a house elf all working together and all I could I could think of was: _What a load of Bollocks! _

The lifts were an experience… They reminded me of the glass elevator in 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' by Roald Dahl. Finally we got to the sixth floor, the elevator chiming out; _Level 6: DMLE, Misuse of Magic Office and Department of Magical Records. _ I stepped out of the lift and made a beeline for Magical records.

I spoke to the very sweet secretary behind the desk, who turned out to be Alicia Spinet's mother, although I couldn't tell her who I was and she said that she would have someone come right out and talk to me.

I sat down in one of those uncomfortable waiting room chairs, apparently magic didn't improve those. I was only sitting there for about a minute or so before a tall woman with shoulder length auburn hair came into the room and called my name. As I stood up she staggered backwards and her breath hitched, she recovered quickly however and quickly lead me to a small office down the hall.

As we sat down she opened a folder on her desk and I recognised as my adoption certificate from Gringotts. The woman looked up at me and I felt her calculating stare on me for a few seconds before she began to speak. "Good morning Ms Granger. I'm sorry if I was a bit shocked to see you but as you are probably well aware by now, you very much resemble your birth mother. Bellatrix Lestrange…" She seemed uneasy as she said this. She probably lost someone to my mum or Dad. "…Now as I understand it you wish to change your name back to the one that you were given by your birth mother. I have all the forms here. Just sign the bottom and you'll officially become Sophia Andromeda Black." She said handing me a bright red quill. "It's a Blood Quill, it's used for signing contracts and official documents that have to be signed in blood to be magically binding… don't worry, It'll heal the hand straight away, but you hand will be tender for a while with the amount of paperwork we have to do today." She said; a sad expression on her face. I nodded and signed the bottom of the page.

Three very sore and tiring hours later, we had finally finished all the paperwork. The Name change, the cancelling of the adoption, meaning that as my parents and first choice of guardian were all wanted felons, incarcerated or believed dead, I would go to Andromeda Tonks. The Magical emancipation order, effectively making that last one irrelevant in the magical world, Andromeda could now only make the decisions on the muggle side of things. Exemption to the reasonable restriction of underage sorcery act, and an Azkaban visiting order, that one didn't use a blood quill thankfully. The woman sat back in her chair as she co-signed the last document. "Well everything seems to be in order Ms Black. By close of business today you will be a legal adult in our world. I'll send copies of the name changes to Professor Dumbledore and don't miss that visiting order. Getting another one before Hogwarts starts back would be difficult… Also, I would like to apologise again for my behaviour earlier, I'm still a little bit sore form the last war. Your father personally executed my fiancé and his brother. I let my emotions carry over into my work and I apologise."

I nodded. "I'm sorry for what happened to you… and if it makes you feel any better I want nothing to do with my father, I know the official ministry line is that he is still dead, but I'm good friends with Harry and will stand with him to the last." I said the last bit with confidence. She smiled and closed the folder with all the new documents in it and came around my side of the desk.

"I admire your strength Sophia; I hope you keep it…in the end. Now I have another meeting to get to, and please give my love to Arthur and Molly, this must be a hard time with Percy acting the way he is." She smiled again and escorted me back to the department reception. "And if you have any questions just send me an owl, ok" she said handing me a card.

I quickly put the card in my pocket and made my way towards Mr Weasley's office on Level 2. On the way down I saw Fudge talking to Lucius Malfoy… I still shuddered to think that we were related. The Misuse of Muggle Artefacts office was a small closet office in the corner of the second floor. Yet it somehow managed to fit Mr Weasley and two others. It appeared that the trail had gone well although Mr Weasley seemed to be quite busy, something to do with bewitched teapots, so I decided to ask when we got back to Grimauld Place.

I was exhausted by the time we got back to Grimauld Place, We had to go home the muggle way, as Flooing straight into the house of a wanted criminal was not the best thing to do if you wanted said criminal to remain at large and not rotting in Azkaban.

It turned out that Fudge had been so confident of getting a conviction that he summoned the entire Wizengamot, except Dumbledore who he had deposed as chief warlock and suspended him from taking his regular seat. He also broadcast the trial on the wizarding wireless. It all royally blew up in his face.

"Hermione!" Sirius shouted as I got down to the kitchen where the party was already in full swing. "Or should I call you Sophia?"

"Sophia. Three bloody hours of paperwork! And I saw Lucy Malfoy talking to fudge on my way out, he looked mad." Sirius let out his barking laugh, Which Drew Mrs Weasley and Tonks over.

"Wotcher Sophia, I take it everything went ok?" said Tonks enveloping me in a massive hug.

I nodded "Yeah everything was fine, but if I ever see another blood quill, I'll kill something. Also I need to borrow you on Monday." She looked apprehensive but nodded anyway before skipping back over to Remus. "Molly, the person who did all my paperwork with me said to give you and Arthur her best…" I pulled out the card she had given me "…someone called Shelly Harrison."

Molly just had a sad smile on her face and went back to the party without another word; Mr Weasley just had a knowing expression on his face. "Hermione, I mean Sophia, Shelly Harrison was engaged to Molly's Brother Fabien. She was pregnant when he was killed but had a miscarriage shortly after. Both he and Molly's other brother Gideon were killed by Voldemort himself."

I gasped, I knew that her fiancé was killed by Voldemort but the miscarriage and the connection to the Weasley's was a bit of a shock.

The celebrations went on for several more hours. I sat and tried to enjoy myself for the rest of it, but the entire day was a bit emotionally draining for me. I bid everyone a goodnight and went to bed without dinner much to Molly's chagrin. It was going to be a long couple of weeks before we all made it back to Hogwarts…

_**A/N: Hi everyone! Hope you all enjoyed this shortish chapter. I'm going away tomorrow so I'll probs won't have the next chapter up for a couple of weeks especially as I have my driving theory test on at the end of the month.**_

_**As always please review and tell me what you thought **_

_**Also some people have been asking if this is going to be a femmeslash story. I'm still unsure. **_

_**-Slygrifflepuffclaw**_


	7. The House of Snakes

_**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER OR ANY CANNON CHARACTERS, I CAN ONLY CLAIM THE PLOT AND ANY ORIGINAL CHARACTERS PRESENT**_

_**A/N: I'd just like to address the issue with the names changing in the last couple of chapters.**_

_**Most of it is me being stupid and not checking back on my own work. The letters however is because Bellatrix wasn't captured for nearly a year after she gave Hermione up. So I assumed she would know what the Grangers' intended to call her I had intended making the Grangers' name her Hermione and that her name while Bellatrix still had here was Sophia, but again I forgot to read through the entire chapter beforehand; so I didn't put it in and the story continued on as if I had. But just to clarify**_

1. The Grangers' named her Hermione Jean.  
2. Bellatrix named her Sophia Andromeda.  
3. I have no Idea where I got Hermione Sophia from.  
4. I will try to make it less confusing in future chapters.  
5. Hermione Sophia may have been a name I originally thought of but later scraped and failed to change.

_**Hope you enjoy the rest of the story :) **_

_-Slygrifflepuffclaw_

_**The only test Hermione Granger ever failed.**_

_**Chapter 6: **_

The rest of the summer was fairly mundane. Sirius was giving me lessons on the Black family tree and pureblood culture, so that I don't make a fool out of myself and blow my cover within the first twelve hours of being in Slytherin. Although on the plus side the chamber of secrets would be a great place to study when Malfoy and his goons got too annoying.

Flitwick was training me in duelling and Snape and Moody were training me in the dark arts for when Bellatrix was finally broken out and I could be a full time spy and I partly wished that my father would hurry up so that I could finally talk to my mother in person. Progress was slow on both fronts, as they wanted me to be able to stand against most of the inner circle if not my father himself.

Finally it was September the first. Between the lessons, and trying to get Harry to trust me again, which was nearly back to what it was. Ginny and the Twins had warmed back up to me almost instantly after the figured out that all that had changed was the fact that I knew who my real parents were and my appearance. Ron was…well he was being Ron. He stopped talking when I entered the room and then went off to sulk after about five minutes of waiting for me to leave again.

I wrote a letter to my muggle parents, explaining that I knew that I was adopted and would be home at some point over the Christmas holidays and we could talk about it then.

Balthazar was less than impressed when he was told that we'd be leaving for Hogwarts. The house was so old and the Black house elf was lazy and just went round cursing Sirius all day the place was infested with rats and all manner of nice things snakes like to eat. But he went into his tattoo form on my arm anyway, with some nondescript hissing.

Unlike usual, with Moody running the protection detail for Harry and me on the way to the train; so the Weasley's were actually at the station with more than a few minutes to spare. Sirius followed us even though he wasn't supposed to and gave Harry a photo of the original Order. I just hugged him tight. I didn't think anything needed to be said. When I pulled away I could see his eyes watering.

"Just promise me one thing Sirius…" He nodded trying to hold back the tears. "…At least try to stay out of trouble!"

He let out his barking laugh and wrapped me up in another hug "I'm so proud of you Sophia and I'm sure your mother is too" I nodded and he turned back into a dog and trotted on beside Tonks. I hung back with Harry and Ginny.

"When we get to the platform I'm going to have to hang around with all the Slytherins." I said as we approached the barrier. "Please fill Neville in on what's going on. I don't want him to hate me because of what happened to his parents." They both nodded. Ron just let out an affirmative grunt behind me.

I gave a small wave once we were on the other side and went into the ladies with Tonks to change my appearance, with Sirius standing guard outside. I left the toilets and walked up towards the section of the train where all the Slytherins tended to sit. It seemed different to the rest of the train all of the seats were Slytherin green. I nearly all the compartments were full. I ducked into the only empty one I could find. Everything was quiet until just after we pulled out of the station, when I was visited by Malfoy and the goon squad.

"Hey! New girl this section of the train is for Slytherins ONLY so get down to the Mudbloods and Muggle lovers in Gryffindor and Hufflepuff." Draco sneered as he came in and sat down on the seat opposite me and looked at me expectantly as Crabbe and Goyle sat down next to him.

"Well Draco if that's how you treat family I'd hate to be your enemy." I said coolly. He was stunned, gobsmacked, mouth hanging open.

"What do you mean family? I'm not related to you…I'd know." He shot back in a tone that reminded me of Ron.

Suddenly there was a sound from the door of the compartment. "Draco you wouldn't know who your family was if your tapestry came and slapped you in the face." Taunted Daphne Greengrass as she came into the compartment and plopped herself down beside me, and held out her hand "Daphne Greengrass; and you are?"

"Sophia Black. Pleased to meet you." I said shaking her hand.

She was about to speak again, but Draco interrupted. "So you're…?"

"Auntie Bella's little girl, yes. Now hush so the girls can chat." I said. He looked at me stunned. It was probably the first time someone other than Lucius or Snape had stood up. He mumbled something about 'going to torment Potter' and left with Crabbe and Goyle.

"That was bloody brilliant." Said Daphne, who nearly fell out of her seat with giggles. "It's about time someone stood up to Draco. I really hope that you're in Slytherin with me and Tracey. This is going to be a great year!"

The rest of the journey was rather uneventful. We were joined by Tracey Davis and Pansy Parkinson, who both burst out laughing at the story about Draco. Who later came to apologize for his behaviour and skulked off again without another word.

"So Sophia, where did you go to school before Hogwarts?" asked Tracey as she finished off a chocolate frog from the sweet trolley.

"Well I went to the Salem institute of Magic in America for a couple of years, but the whole transatlantic travel thing was weighing down on me so I decided that I wanted to go to Hogwarts. Also it makes it easier to visit Mum if I'm in Britain." There was silence after I said the last bit.

"So she really is you're your mum then?" Pansy half whispered across the compartment. I nodded we fell into silence again. We stayed virtually silent for the next half hour, until we got to the station. "I have to go with thee first years to get sorted but I'll see you in the common room later. " I called out as I left the compartment. I heard Daphne shout a 'We'll see' as I left the train and made my way towards Hagrid.

"Ah Ms Black that's the last of the new students. Right First years! And transfer student! He said in his usual booming voice. "Follow me to the boats. Four to a boat and no pushing, I 'ave not lost a student to the Giant squid yet and I'm not planning to." We all got into the boats. "Right, off we go then." I heard Hagrid say as the boats started off.

About twenty minutes later, all dried and surrounded by excited first years, I stood in front other massive door into the Great Hall. McGonagall stood in front of the throng of new students. "They are ready for you now. Ms Black you will be sorted last." She said before leading us through the large doors into the familiar hall. The sorting of the first years didn't take too long and soon we were at 'Zambini, Clover." who went to Slytherin.

Then I was left alone standing in the centre aisle. Then Dumbledore stood. "And this year we have a transfer student from the Salem Institute of Magic in New England America, I trust that you will treat her as if she has been here all along." Then he nodded to McGonagall who read out the last name on the long list "Black, Sophia Andromeda." She called out and the general din died down. The entire hall was so silent you could hear a pin drop. There hadn't been a transfer student to Hogwarts in nearly a century. My Shoes clicked of the stone floor as I walked up to the stool and sat down waiting for McGonagall to put the damned hat on my head.

"_Hello again Ms Black. Do you wish to make them wait or get it over with?"_

"_**Let them wait." **_ I thought as I sat on the stool.

Nearly ten minutes later the hat was still sitting there humming and then…"**SLYTHERIN!**" McGonagall took the hat off my head and I went to sit next to Daphne at the Slytherin table.

After the feast Dumbledore stood again and approached his Lectern. "Many of you may be wondering why the black banners from Cedric Diggory's Memorial Service are still hanging over the house tables instead of the traditional house colours. I will now tell you. The hearts of Gryffindor House will be heave tonight as over the summer we lost not only Cedric Diggory but another of our brightest lights, Hermione Granger and her parents died in a car crash on the twenty third of August last. Our only consolation is that she died instantly and felt no pain. As a result of this classes will begin a day late as we will hold a memorial service for her tomorrow, an act Ms Granger will surely comeback and haunt me for." He let out a small sad laugh and turned his head away from the Gryffindor table. "In slightly happier news, I would like to announce some staffing changes. Professor Hagrid is to remain at his post as it was uncovered that the numerous accusations against him made by several member of Slytherin house were found to be completely false, when they were investigated under Veritaserum." He turned to glare at the Slytherin table. "In other news I would like to introduce our new Defence against the Dark Arts teacher Professor Umbridge. Now Mister Filtch would like me to remi…"

"_Hem, hem_" we all looked at the woman dressed in all pink, no one ever interrupted the headmaster during his speeches, and even the Slytherins who loved to see Dumbledore suffer were looking around confused. "Thank you headmaster for your warm words of welcome…" Ten minutes later her message was clear. The Ministry was interfering at Hogwarts.

After Umbridge's rather obvious _'we're seizing control of the school' _speech, Dumbledore finished off his usual announcements (forbidden forest is still forbidden, no magic in the corridors, prefects lead the first years to the dormitories) and we all went off to bed. Because of the incident with the cat hair I hadn't seen the Slytherin Common room. SO naturally it was the only part of the castle that could take me by surprise. As I stepped through the opening in the wall, which the password was Salazar, but I wondered if it was like the Chamber where I could speak to it in Parseltounge.

We weren't even in the common room two minutes before Professor Snape came through the opening, his long black cloak billowing out behind him. Everyone stood in lines firsties at the front Seventh years at the back. "Welcome back to another year" he drawled out. "And welcome to the new editions to this house… I feel the need to remind certain individuals in the upper years and enlighten the new first years to the fact that Slytherin House is ONE unit. If you have an issue with one of your fellow housemates, it is dealt with inside these four walls…I expect everyone to remember that, and that I do not have to bring it up again until this time next year when telling those first years…You are all dismissed, except for you Ms Black, I wish to speak with you." I nodded and followed him out of the room down towards his office. Once inside he sat down at his desk and looked across the table. "Your Dark-Arts tutoring will continue and you are also going to be learning occlumency to prepare you for when you meet your father. Also there has been news from the Dark Lord… The breakout your mother referenced when she told Dumbledore that she was ready to start spying is due to happen just after Christmas, with any luck we should be ready for you to start by then, if not Easter and have the dark mark by the time school starts again after Easter. Goodnight Ms Granger." I hurried back to the common room, rushing straight up to the fifth year girls' dormitory. Pansy and Tracey were already in bed and Daphne was up sitting on her bed reading the new charms textbook.

"Hey Daphne, do you know what's going on tomorrow with the memorial service?" I asked casually as I plopped down on what I assumed was my bed.

"Yeah… It'll start at eleven. The whole school will sit in sections,with their head of houses. Slytherins and Gryffindors at the front Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw with the rest of the staff apart from Dumbledore will be at the back of the hall." She said her voice full of sadness. "Sorry, I'm getting emotional. This is the second one of these we've had this year. I know a lot of my house didn't like Granger all that much, but I looked up to her… apart from being a Gryffindor she was everything I aspired to be… and now she's gone, just like that." She was nearly crying, I went over and hugged her. If this was what my 'death' was doing to the Slytherins what was it going to do to the Gryffindors (who didn't know what was going on obviously).

"It's ok Daphne. Everything is going to be okay. You just need to keep your head held high tomorrow, okay... Daphne?" I looked down at the blond haired girl on my shoulder. She was asleep.

I lay her down on her bed and sat down on my own.

Balthazar slithered out from beneath my sleeve and coiled himself into a ball at the end of my bed. _**"Whatssss wrong sssspeaker" **_He asked as I got into the bed. _**"I'm starting to doubt my choices, to appear as dead to the rest of the world and I'm still right her."**_ I hissed out in the parseltounge equivalent of a sigh.

"_**Yessss but it is our choicessss that make ussss who we are. You mussst assssk yourself do you truly belong in the housssse of ssssnakes and more importantly can we ssssurvive here?"**_ he hissed. I looked over at Daphne, tearstains plastered all over face. Then I remembered how Draco had gotten once he found out who I was…

"_**Yesss, I think we will do quite well here, I just misssss my old friendssss." **_I replied before turning out the light and falling asleep.

_**A/N: And that's chapter 6! Please review and tell me what you thought, or if you though I could do something different.**_

_**The people who have been asking if this is going to be a femslash fic' the decision has been made, but I'm gonna be mean and not tell you.**_

_**Also ALL of my chapters are posted nearly immediately after they are finished (+5min proof read). I'm writing two other stories as well so the update process is slow. However I'm doing State exams this year so I'll be studying a lot with all the other stuff I do it's going to leave a lot less time for writing so less chapters :(**_

_**-Slygrifflepuffclaw.**_


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